ed one night at a supper, at which were present his
wife, and several strangers and neighbours, of an inn-keeper of Mont
St. Michel, and declared, affirmed, and swore on his honour, that this
inn-keeper had the finest, biggest, and thickest member in all the
country round, and could use it so well that four, five, or six times
cost him no more trouble than taking off his hat. All those who were at
table listened to this favourable account of the prowess of mine host
of Mont St. Michel, and made what remarks they pleased about it, but the
person who took the most notice was the lady of the house, the wife of
the man who related the story, who had listened attentively, and to
whom it seemed that a woman would be most happy and fortunate who had a
husband so endowed.

And she also thought in her heart that if she could devise some cunning
excuse she would some day go to Mont St. Michel, and put up at the inn
kept by the man with the big member, and it would not be her fault if
she did not try whether the report were true.

To execute what she had so boldly devised, at the end of six or eight
days she took leave of her husband, to go on a pilgrimage to Mont St.
Michel; and she invented some clever excuse for her journey, as women
well know how to do. Her husband did not refuse her permission to go,
though he had his suspicions.

At parting, her husband told her to make an offering to Saint Michael,
and that she was to lodge at the house of the said landlord, and he
recommended her to him a hundred thousand times.

She promised to accomplish all he ordered, and upon that took leave and
went away, much desiring, God knows, to find herself at Mont St. Michel.
As soon as she had left, the husband mounted his horse, and went as fast
as he could, by another road to that which his wife had taken, to Mont
St. Michel, and arrived secretly, before his wife, at the inn kept by
the man already mentioned, who most gladly welcomed him. When he was in
his chamber, he said to his host,

"My host, you and I have been friends for a long time. I will tell you
what has brought me to your town now. About five or six days ago, a lot
of good fellows were having supper at my house, and amongst other talk,
I related how it was said throughout the country that there was no man
better furnished than you"--and then he told him as nearly as possible
all that had been said. "And it happened," he continued, "that my wife
listened attentively to what